BLIND SHIPPING

What Is Blind Shipping?

Shippers send a blind shipment when a third party handles the warehousing and delivery of the product and the shipper does not want the end customer to know a third party was involved. The bill of lading (BOL) will show the shipper's name and address rather than that of the third party. Shipping blind is important to some companies.

WHY SHIP BLIND?

Let's say you license your salad dressings to other companies. They receive the ingredients and then mix and bottle them before selling them to their own customers. You don't stock the ingredients in your own place of business and don't want to mess with the shipping. You have the wholesaler of these ingredients ship them directly to your licensee. By using blind shipments, you keep the licensee in the dark about the name and address of the wholesaler, so you don't have to worry about them cutting you out and going directly to the distributor..

HOW DO I COORDINATE A BLIND SHIPMENT?

Contact your FreightCenter Agent at (800) 716-7608 to set up your next blind shipment. We will need to know the third-party name and address, as well as the ultimate consignee’s name and address. The ultimate consignee or end-customer is the final recipient of the freight.

IS THERE AN EXTRA COST?

Depending on the level of service, the carrier may assess a fee on each blind shipment. Additional accessorials, such as re-labeling, will be assessed to the consignee or paying party.

HOW IS BLIND SHIPPING DIFFERENT FROM DROP SHIPPING?

Blind shipping and drop shipping are similar in the following ways:

The seller (shipper) does not want to warehouse or store inventory of their product

The seller also does not want to manage order shipping and handling.

The details of the order are sent to the manufacturer or a distributor (third-party company like Amazon®).

But blind shipping differs from drop shipping in that in blind shipping the third-party warehouse or distributor is not mentioned on the shipping documents for business reasons, and that's a very big difference.

WHAT IS A DOUBLE-BLIND SHIPMENT?

When the shipper is blind to the end-customer's address, the shipment is considered double blind. In the scenario where the shipper and the end customer are clients of the third-party, both the origin location and destination are unknown to any side but the third-party. A third-party or distributor will ship double blind when they do not want the shipper to obtain the contact information for the end customer (consignee).

If you have an interest in setting up blind shipping for your company, contact a FreightCenter Agent at (800) 716-7608.